Separator for winding deformable materials upon reels



Oct. 20, 1936. -'F. ZONINO ET AL SEPARATOR FOR WINDING DEFORMABLEMATERIALS UPON REELS Filed July '7, 1934 my vnvnvavnvavavavavmavz, Zfl

( v wvaxvm amx mxwm WW! A A A A A A AA A A A A n VI'IIIuIIIIII/"IlllllINVENTORS FREDERICK ZO/Vl/VO Elf "5- I 1% Patented Oct. 20, 1936 UNHTEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Frederick Zonino, Naugatuck, and Albert G.

Emery, New Haven, Conn.,

assignors, by

mesne assignments, to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New Jersey Application July 7, 1934, Serial No. 734,116

6 Claims.

This invention relates to separators for winding deformable materialupon a reel and more particularly to such separators which are providedwith a self-supporting web which is water-repellent and will not bedeformed by the absorption of moisture.

In the manufacture of sheet rubber material, the hot, plastic and tackyrubber stock is ca1endered into a thin sheet and then commonly woundupon reels with an interposed cloth liner so the sheet will occupy lessfloor space during cooling and shrinking and can be conveniently handledand stored. In more recent practice as the sheet comes off the calenderrolls water is run over its surface to more quickly cool and shrink therubber. After being treated with the Water the rubber is wet and isstill sufficiently soft and tacky that its surfaces will adhere to oneanother and be deformed when the surfaces are pressed together. In orderto separate the layers of rubber and to prevent pressure from beingapplied to the sheet after being wound on a reel, the sheet, instead ofbeing wound on a cloth liner, is wound on a flexible strip or separatoras the sheet and separator are being wound on the reel. The separatorcomprises a web to which are secured two edge strips forming a groovetherebetween within which the rubber sheet is adapted to lie and isprotected thereby.

Heretofore the webs of the separators have been made of thin flexiblematerial which when wound on a reel was supported between the edgestrips by relatively thick cross-supports extending between the edgestrips. In other cases the webs of the separators have been made ofwater absorbent material. Such separators have the disadvantage that thecross-supports for the web increase the diameter of the package wound onthe reel and that the water absorbent webs absorb moisture from the wetrubber which causes the web to swell and buckle and thereby injure theweb and the rubber wound thereon.

An object of this invention is to construct an improved separator forreeling deformable and/or tacky material on a reel, the separator beingso constructed that it occupies a relatively small space on the reel andis not deformed by the absorption of moisture.

The above and other objects and novel features of this invention will bebetter understood from the following description and accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a separator embodying this invention onwhich is being wound a sheet of material as the separator is beingunwound from the upper reel and is being wound upon the lower reel;

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged crosssectional views on lines 22 and 33,respectively, in Fig. 1, for clearness the rubber sheet not being shownon the reel in Fig. 3; and

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged cross-sectional views of a portion of theseparator Web, each figure disclosing a different modification of theweb.

The embodiment of this invention as illustrated in the drawing comprisesa separator l which may be wound from one reel II on to another reel I2,the reels being suitably supported in a frame l3 and being provided withsuitable apparatus for turning the reels as a sheet of calendered rubberl 4 or like soft tacky material is wound between the coils I5 of theseparator I0 as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The separator is shown incross-section in Fig. 2. It comprises a web I6 having edge strips l'lsecured along each of the longitudinal edges of the web I 6. Thisconstruction provides a groove 18 between the edge strips H. The groove18 receives the sheet material l4 to be protected when wound on the reell2.

The principal feature of this invention is in the construction of theweb [6 of the separator which gives it the properties of beingrelatively thin and self-supporting along its width suspended betweenthe edge strips, and also of being capable of resisting deformation as aresult of moisture or Water carried to it by material such as wet rubberWound thereon.

Different modifications of the construction of the web l6 are shown indetail in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. The modification shown in Fig. 4 comprisesa layer of fabric 19 to which is applied a coat of rubber cement 20, andthen a layer of rubber, compounded to form hard rubber, is applied tothe cement to form after vulcanization a relatively thin layer of hardrubber 2| on the underside of the web. The edge strips I1 are thensecured to the web l6. These strips are preferably made ofwater-repellent material such as a rubber compound heavily loaded withfiber.

The term "fabric as used herein applies to fibrous materials such asduck or other fabrics which are used in the rubber industry to provide asurface to which tacky rubber will not easily adhere and which will addstrength to the web 16 of the separator. This type of fabric isrelatively supple and is not stiff enough when coiled on the reel tocarry the weight of the rubber sheet 14 supported thereby between theedge vide a good and more flexible connection between. the hard rubberlayer 2| and the fabric l9. Any other suitable adhesive may be used tounite the fabric and hard rubber sheet.

The term hard rubber as used herein applies to vulcanized rubbercontaining sufii cient combined sulphur to give ittheproperties'approach ing those of hard rubber orvulcanite to provide"the fabric with the necessary rigidity. The layer 2| of hard rubber ismade sufiiciently thick to make the web l6 stiff enough not to'sagbetween the edge strip I! and yet not so thick that it will crack whenwound on the reels l l and I2. This combination of materials provides aweb It that is relatively thinand yet self-supporting between the edgestrips I1 and the hard rubber layer 2| being water-repellent it does notswell and cause the separator to buckle and thereby become damaged andinjure the sheet rubber l4 carried thereby.

The modification of the web I6 shown in Fig. is provided with a fabriccoating IS on both sides of the web. This type of web may be made in amanner similar to that shown in Fig. 4, except that a part of the hardrubber compound is applied to the rubber cement coat 20 oneach of thefabric sheets, and the sheets are then superposed with their hard rubbercompound layers in contact to provide the required thickness of thecompound with the outerlayers of fabric l9 on each side of the compound.Then the compound is vulcanized to form the hard rubber layer 2|.

Fig. 6 discloses a modification of the separator web IS in which thehard rubber layer 2| is applied to both sides of thefabric I9, which maybe reference to Fig. 4.

While several modifications of this invention are described herein itwill be understood that changes in the details may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

1. In a separator having a web and edge strips secured thereto, said webcomprising a layer of fabric having a thin layer of stiff but bendablesubstantially moisture repellent material secured thereto.

. .2. In a, separator having a web and edge strips secured thereto, saidweb comprising a layer of fabric having a thin layer of vulcanizedrubber secured thereto and containing sufficient combined sulphur togive the rubber properties ap proaching those of hard rubber. V

3. In a separator having a web and edge strips secured thereto, said webcomprising a layer of fabric having a thin layer of vulcanite securedthereto.

4. In a separator having a web and edge strip secured thereto, said webcomprising a layer of fabric and a relatively thin layer of vulcanizedrubber containing sufficient combined sulphur to give the rubber theproperties approaching those of hard rubber, said layer of hard rubberbeing secured to said fabric by a binder of rubber cement to which thelayer of hard rubber is vulcanized.

5. In a separator having a web and edge strips secured thereto, said webcomprising a thin layer of vulcanized rubber secured to and sandwichedbetween two outer layers of fabric, and containing suflicient combinedsulphur to give the rubber properties approaching those of hard rubber.

6. In a separator having a web and edge strips .secured thereto, saidweb comprising a layer of fabric secured to and sandwiched between twoouter layers of vulcanized rubber having a combined sulphur content atleast approaching that of hard rubber.

FREDERICK ZONINO. ALBERT G. EMERY.

